The regional authority in southern Denmark Region Syddanmark has apologised for erroneously removing thousands of women from a regular breast cancer screening program.
According to Region Syddanmark, they were dropped from the program because they hadn't reacted to their initial appointments and two subsequent reminders that were posted to them.
”We have interpreted the women's lack of attendance as them not wanting to be part of the screening program,” Per Busk, the health director at Region Syddanmark, said in a press release.
”It was never our intention to take the opportunity away from women who wanted to be screened for breast cancer. We sincerely apologise if that has been the case.”
READ MORE: System failure caused thousands to miss cancer screening
22 died, 64 have cancer
Out of the 7,223 women who were incorrectly not offered a mammogram between 2008 and 2013 – as all women aged 50-69 in Denmark must be offered via mail every second year – 22 have died of breast cancer.
The relatives of the 22 women in question can seek compensation because it cannot be ruled out that their illnesses could have been detected earlier if they had been screened regularly.
Additionally, Region Syddanmark is in contact with 64 women who have breast cancer and are also able to seek compensation.
Last year, Region Midtjylland admitted being responsible for an IT system failure that caused 27,000 women to be involuntarily deregistered from a screening program for cervical cancer.
